How To Brand Yourself On A Small Budget

Micha Kaufman
, ContributorI write about the Gig Economy, entrepreneurs and the future of work.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

It is often said you will be judged in the first ten seconds of meeting someone. Businesses know how important this is, and rely on their brand strategy to convey meaning and impact in the shortest time possible, driven to do this by an Internet society short on time and shorter of attention. Information needs to be direct, clear and of value, and well designed brands reveal their power when anyone can recognize and remember a product or company by their chosen font, logo or even a half-heard jingle.

Everyone is waking up to the fact that who we are, how we are viewed and more importantly how we are judged is no longer just about the clothes we might wear or the car we choose to drive. Our 'selves' are now digital and are spread wide and far across the Internet, living and breathing in the social spheres of Twitter and Facebook to our personal websites and Tumblr blogs. Professionals know that when someone looks at their LinkedIn profile, they are judged not only by their skills and experience, but by the story they tell of their career and even by the picture they choose. Micro entrepreneurs are quickly coming to the same conclusion, knowing that how they sell their service is just as important as the service itself. In our age of fast clicks and rapid browsing, it’s essential to make sure your brand strategy, whether you are a corporate employee or a freelancer is not only defined and well presented, but if it is to have a real chance to succeed it requires a professional touch.

Knowing that the brand identity of a small service and how it is presented is crucial, there is now a growing increase in sales between service vendors as they go about building their personal brands. At Fiverr we see web designers and graphic artists working with voice over professionals and copywriters, purchasing services from each other in order to craft a better brand, not only learning from one other and profiting from the increased exposure, but more importantly growing as professionals by the exchange of knowledge and the recommendations of fellow vendors.

What is really exciting is that many consumers, with all their virtual identities to manage, are starting to want their branding services for themselves. It's the growing need by everyone to truly express themselves in a connected society where local is global, a fact that is not only driving the growth of custom shopping services of Indochino and CafePress, but creating an expanding market for services that were once only the domain of big business. People desire everything from their Facebook themes to Twitter avatars to their blog content to really reflect who they are and what they stand for, needing more than just a template or graphic anyone can use. They want their virtual selves to be as unique as they are, but don’t want, need or can afford a full-service agency either. What they need is a professional personal brand, which until recently was hard to obtain.

There is no market segment better placed to help consumers design their personal brands than Micro entrepreneurs, who already perform that same task for many big businesses. They are easily accessible on the Internet, and many work one-to-one with their buyers, a really important factor to building a successful and authentic brand identity. Even better, the platforms where people can find these small service vendors will be filled with personal feedback, making the buyer's task of finding just the right vendor to fulfill their quest to build a brand identity easier and more comfortable.

It really is the time when everyone from the office professional to the university student and those that are retired have easy access to the technology, the platforms and the small service providers to help them craft a brand strategy and identity that many not only want, but more importantly receive the professional service they deserve.